Not long after Wang Dong fell asleep, Huo Yuhao, who had been cultivating on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes.
He quietly got out of bed and left the dormitory.
Outside the dormitory building, he met Zhu Yun, who was waiting at the entrance. The two exchanged glances and then silently left the residential area together.
Only after reaching a deserted place did Huo Yuhao speak up and ask:
"How is your roommate's level?"
Zhu Yun replied calmly:
"Just an ordinary one-ring Soul Master. I don't think she's worth trying to win over."
She paused and asked:
"How about you, Brother Hao? How's the information gathering going?"
"It's not bad."
Huo Yuhao leaned against the wall, a dim but sharp light flickering in his eyes.
"From the information I've gathered, at least those two seniors named Beibei and Xu Sanshi will most likely become Shrek's Seven Monsters."
During the day, Huo Yuhao wasn't just playing with Wang Dong in Shrek City; he had also been intentionally and unintentionally asking seniors for information.
Given his awkward status in the Duke's Mansion, he couldn't find anyone to help him gather information, and even if someone gave him information, he wouldn't dare to fully believe it.
He still trusted himself more.
The main information he was inquiring about was who were the most talented students in the Outer Court.
Huo Yuhao would not forget that about four years ago, the Duchess had proudly hosted a banquet, inviting nobles from the Star Luo Empire to attend, the reason being that her eldest son, Dai Yaheng, had become one of the new generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters.
Shrek's Seven Monsters is the title given to the seven most outstanding students of Shrek Academy. They also receive concentrated resource allocation from the academy. They are selected every five years. The newly selected Shrek's Seven Monsters will follow the older generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters as reserve team members and participate in that year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament together.
Calculating by time, there is only about a year left until the next selection of Shrek's Seven Monsters.
As the seven most outstanding geniuses of Shrek Academy, Shrek's Seven Monsters are targets that Huo Yuhao must win over. If possible, he must even strive to join their ranks. Therefore, Huo Yuhao has now begun investigating the geniuses who might become Shrek's Seven Monsters.
"Beibei, nicknamed 'Thunderbolt Beibei,' is currently a fourth-year student. His martial soul is the top-tier strong attack type martial soul, Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. He is a Soul Ancestor level expert and is said to be in a relationship with a girl named Tang Ya. The two are running a sect called Tang Sect, which only has two members."
"Tang Sect?"
Hearing Huo Yuhao say this, Zhu Yun suddenly interrupted:
"Is it that legendary Tang Sect?"
"It should be. They've invited quite a few people, but they were all rejected."
Huo Yuhao nodded.
As a young master from the Duke's Mansion, he naturally understood what Zhu Yun was asking.
The ancestor of the Duke's Mansion ten thousand years ago, Dai Mubai, had once fought against the Spirit Hall alongside the Sea God Tang San, and Tang Sect was the organization founded by Tang San himself.
Although it is said to have fallen on hard times over the years, Huo Yuhao truly didn't expect it to be so destitute that only two people were left, and they were two young people only at the Soul King realm.
Even if Huo Yuhao were to create a sect himself now, it would be impossible to only recruit two people.
Zhu Yun raised an eyebrow and asked:
"Then should we join? They must be really short on manpower. If we join, we can pull them into our camp, right?"
"No."
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said in a deep voice:
"The reason those seniors refused is that Tang Sect doesn't allow members to leave casually. Putting aside whether a sect that has fallen to such a state is worth joining, it's best for people from the Duke's Mansion not to casually join sects, otherwise it might affect the future."
"...That's true."
Generally speaking, the emperor would not allow nobles like the White Tiger Duke, who hold military power, to casually join sects; it's simply too dangerous.
"Then there's the senior named Xu Sanshi. His martial soul is the top-tier defense type martial soul, Black Tortoise. He is currently a fifth-year student and also a Soul Ancestor level expert. You heard the information related to him during the day; he is almost obsessively infatuated with that senior student named Jiang Nannan."
"Ah..."
Zhu Yun recalled Jiang Nannan's appearance from memory and sighed softly.
"It seems it's not entirely incomprehensible."
She asked:
"So, what about it? Are they a couple?"
"No, this is also a very strange point."
Huo Yuhao stroked his chin and whispered:
"Jiang Nannan's attitude towards Xu Sanshi can no longer be called indifferent; it can even be said to be disgusted. Many people speculate that something happened between them before, but both Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan are tight-lipped about it, so it remains just speculation."
"So, our goal is to investigate the truth?"
"No, it's best not to."
Huo Yuhao decisively denied:
"Since they are both consistently silent, it means neither of them wants outsiders to know about that matter. In that case, rashly investigating will only invite disgust. It's better for us not to do anything unnecessary. We just need to help Xu Sanshi pursue Jiang Nannan, and we will most likely gain his favor."
"Understood."
Zhu Yun also leaned against the wall and said:
"Then I'll try to get closer to her during this time and improve our relationship. Even if I can't find out what happened in the past, if I can become friends with her, it will also provide convenience for you."
"Okay, I'll leave it to you."
Huo Yuhao smiled slightly.
He was still at ease with Zhu Yun's work. Although she was a bit unreliable in everyday life, she had rarely disappointed him when she was serious.
He organized the information in his mind and continued:
"As for Shrek's Seven Monsters, the two seniors, Beibei and Xu Sanshi, are the most certain candidates right now. It's just a pity that due to the general prejudice of the academy's students against the Soul Tool Department, they don't know much about it, so I'm still not sure who from the Soul Tool Department will join the team."
As far as Huo Yuhao knew, every generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters would definitely have at least one student from the Soul Tool Department.
It's just that the quality of students in the Soul Tool Department is generally not very good, so in previous generations of Shrek's Seven Monsters, the vast majority only had one student from the Soul Tool Department, and they were usually the weakest one.
For Huo Yuhao, the weaker the student from the Soul Tool Department, the better. If they were weak enough, Huo Yuhao's chances of becoming one of Shrek's Seven Monsters would increase.
If you were to ask why...
Huo Yuhao looked up at the night sky, the moon's light and shadow reflected in his pupils.
"I'll go check out the Soul Tool Department tomorrow."
Because he himself was also a Soul Engineer.